Price tag for school security upgrades: $11.3 million

Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn revealed to the School Board on Thursday the district would need $11.3 million for three big security upgrades to protect its 51 campuses.

By Joe CallahanStaff writer

The Marion County School District would need $11.3 million for three main security upgrades to better protect its 51 campuses, Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn revealed on Thursday.That $11.3 million would cover the cost of adding armed security officers at every elementary school, finalizing fencing at every school, and installing bulletproof windows and doors at the main entrance of every campus.The information was part of a report Tomyn gave to the School Board at its scheduled work session on Thursday. Tomyn asked his staff earlier this month to compile a cost analysis of the added security measures.Tomyn said he was still trying to determine a cost of adding panic buttons at every school.Obtaining an exact cost of panic buttons is difficult because some of the cost may be absorbed at some schools with newly purchased intercom systems. Many new intercom systems incorporate security, such as panic button-type technology.Tomyn said the cost of adding security cameras at every school would be about $670,000. Tomyn said he was trying to find a way to make that happen.He warned the School Board the security cameras are good to track a suspect on campus, and for use as evidence in court, but that they would not deter an armed suspect from storming a campus.Tomyn said the report could be used to help the board draft a half-cent sales tax referendum, which the board may pursue to raise the money for security. A previous half-cent sales tax helped the district raise $100 million in five years to build new schools.School Board member Bobby James asked Tomyn if he could get a school-by-school cost estimate. Tomyn said he would, though a detailed document would take some time to complete. The current document included general, overall estimates.Tomyn met recently with law enforcement officials, who believe the best deterrents would be armed officers and panic buttons at every school.The district would have to pay about $2.5 million to place an armed officer at each of the 51 campuses. Currently, these officers only walk the halls of middle and high schools.The report also noted the cost to finalize fencing projects at about half the schools would cost $3.2 million, most at elementary schools.The report states it would cost $5.5 million to add bulletproof doors and windows at every school entrance.If every door at every school (roughly 4,250) were replaced with a bulletproof version, the cost would be $23.7 million. If every exterior window at every campus were replaced, the cost would be about $134.7 million.In the meeting with law enforcement officials, all agreed that teachers and administrators should not be armed with "guns, knives, baseball bats, Mace" or any other weapon while on campus, Tomyn said.Contact Joe Callahan at 867-4113 or joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him at JoeOcalaNews.